The Gateway to Ballymena

The potential creation of 1,000 jobs in Ballymena has been announced. The Gateway project is a public-private partnership which hopes to develop a 97 acre site adjacent to the Seven Towers roundabout providing training, social intervention services, social housing, a church, a motor village and food retail outlets. It has, according to its supporters, the potential to make an annual contribution of £40 million to the local economy.

The Gateway would create a headquarters for the Wright Group, providing 100 new manufacturing training and apprentice places each year. It would also provide 485 care places. The model claims to be 100 per cent sustainable in commercial, social and economic terms. Project leader Jeff Wright remarked on its importance in an area of high social need where 40 per cent of the adult population is economically inactive. Construction will begin in mid-2015 subject to planning approval.